Peter Schweizer, Senior Editor-at-Large for Breitbart News and President of the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), writes that the financial ties Hillary Clinton and her top deputy John Podesta have with Russia deserve as much scrutiny from the left-wing media as Trump staffers such as Paul Manafort and General Mike Flynn.

Investigating the business ties between Russia and those in President Donald Trump’s orbit is a legitimate exercise. One-time Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was an advisor to the pro-Russian Ukrainian president. Former Trump advisor Carter Page had energy deals involving Russian companies. Former National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn gave a nicely paid speech in Moscow as a private citizen and was less than complete in explaining his conversations with Russian officials. And then there is the simple fact that Attorney General (former senator) Jeff Session, while a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, communicated with the Russian Ambassador—something senators do fairly regularly.

Examining these relationships is worth doing. Still, those pushing the narrative of troubling ties to Russia lose all credibility by wholly ignoring the far deeper and more troubling relationships the Clintons and their closest aides have maintained with Russian government officials for years, including while they were in public office. Unlike the revelations so far concerning Russian ties in the Trump camp, the Clinton deals involved hundreds of millions of dollars and enormous favors that benefitted Russian interests.

Trump claims that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower before the election.

Sound nutty?

Perhaps ... but former Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that Trump is probably right that Trump Tower was bugged (by the Justice Department, not Obama personally).

And chief Fox News Washington correspondent James Rosen - who Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder ordered be bugged ... likemany other reporters for well over a decade - said he thought Trump might be right:

Washington's Blog asked the highest-level NSA whistleblower in history - Bill Binney - whether he thought Trump had been bugged.

Binney is the NSA executive who created the agency’s mass surveillance program for digital information, who served as the senior technical director within the agency, who managed six thousand NSA employees.

He was a 36-year NSA veteran widely regarded as a “legend” within the agency and the NSA’s best-ever analyst and code-breaker.

Binney also mapped out the Soviet command-and-control structure before anyone else knew how, and so predicted Soviet invasions before they happened (“in the 1970s, he decrypted the Soviet Union’s command system, which provided the US and its allies with real-time surveillance of all Soviet troop movements and Russian atomic weapons”).

An honors program at a public university gives students a scholarship and early course signup and lets them use laptops if they take classes on subjects like “white privilege” and Black Lives Matter, which both have community engagement components.

Sam Houston State University in Texas (SHSU) offers a scholarship of up to $2,800 to students who take these courses or others as part of its Elliott T. Bowers Honors College. Students who gain admission into the Honors College can sign up for courses earlier than their non-Honors peers, obtain access to a special computer center, and “automatically receive the Bowers Scholarship upon acceptance into the college.” The Honors students also graduate with distinction and gain usage of cameras, video cameras, and laptops for their class projects.

“Understanding Whiteness: Historic and Contemporary Viewpoints on Privilege,” asks SHSU Honors students “how might white people better understand white privilege and their potential role in dismantling systemic racism?” and requires students to “engage in personal self-reflection” and “educate others about white privilege through action research projects and community engagement initiatives.”

The shoreline by St. Mary’s College in Southern Maryland is lined with riprap, not unlike developed waterfront elsewhere around the Chesapeake Bay. But closer inspection reveals something striking: A cornucopia of oysters, large and small, fill the crevices between the rocks.

Not far offshore, many more oysters can be seen just below the surface of the clear water, festooning reefs made out of concrete and construction rubble.

The upper St. Mary’s River is an oyster sanctuary. Off limits to harvest pressure, this 1,300-acre area is brimming with bivalves. Lewis’s group has poured countless volunteer hours and $250,000 of donations into building new reefs and seeding them with hatchery-spawned, cage-nurtured baby bivalves.

The future of such protected areas is up for debate, though, as the Hogan administration weighs reopening some of Maryland’s 51 oyster sanctuaries to commercial harvest. Watermen say they need more areas to harvest because lethal oyster diseases are flaring up again, cutting into their harvest. And they argue that they deserve access to places like the upper St. Mary’s River. It was one of their most productive spots, they say, before it was made a sanctuary seven years ago.

Former CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson says that according to his sources, the Obama administration worked with the NSA, the CIA and Britain’s GCHQ to disseminate information about Donald Trump that was illegally obtained via surveillance before the election.

Johnson joined the CIA in 1985 and was later promoted to become Senior Regional Analyst for Central America before moving on to work for the State Department.

The former CIA analyst told RT that the controversy was a “huge deal” and that Trump’s only real mistake was to call it a “wiretap” which was “technically inaccurate” and that those who have denied the charges on behalf of Obama are using semantics to fool the public.

“I understand from very good friends that both Jim Clapper and John Brennan at CIA were intimately involved in trying to derail the candidacy of Donald Trump, that there was some collusion overseas with Britain’s own GHCQ,” explained Johnson, adding that information on Trump gathered by GCHQ was passed to Brennan and illegally disseminated within the Obama administration with the green light coming from Obama himself.

The White House statement on “DeepStateGate” — President Donald Trump’s allegations that former President Barack Obama ordered surveillance on him during his 2016 presidential campaign — has the feel of cards and chips thumping down on the table:

The White House is placing a substantial bet on what Congress will uncover. Don’t expect those cards to be dealt swiftly because such investigations take time. The Obama administration was highly adept at stalling investigations until the Democratic media could pronounce them “old news” and ignore the outcome.

The Trump administration can distinguish itself by cooperating energetically with this one and helping it move forward quickly. Rest assured that no matter how long it takes, the media will never consider it “old news” as long as there remains any chance for anyone connected with the Trump 2016 campaign to get in trouble over contacts with the Russians.

It’s possible one reason Trump issued his explosive tweets on surveillance was to make everyone put up or shut up. That might already be working, as some of the more aggressive dealers in unsubstantiated innuendo are suddenly admitting they don’t have any actual evidence. There can’t be any hard evidence if Trump is super-duper wrong about Obama administration surveillance.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Without fanfare, President Donald Trump signed a scaled-back version of his controversial ban on many foreign travelers Monday, hoping to avoid a new round of lawsuits and outrage while fulfilling a central campaign promise. His order still bars new visas for people from six Muslim-majority countries and temporarily shuts down America’s refugee program.

The revised order, signed with none of the flourish of his first version, eliminates some of the most contentious aspects in an effort to surmount the court challenges that are sure to come. Trump’s first order, issued just a week after his inauguration, was halted by federal courts.

The new one leaves Iraq off the list of banned countries — at the urging of U.S. military and diplomatic leaders — but still affects would-be visitors and immigrants from Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Libya. It also makes clear that current visa holders will not be impacted, and it removes language that would give priority to religious minorities — a provision some interpreted as a way to help Christians get into the U.S. while excluding Muslims.

As many of you may have heard, Wikileaks has just release Vault 7 today and the findings are astounding indeed.

Apparently, the CIA allegedly has been spying on all of us through all of our devices, installing trojans, malware and other hacking tactics to track our (yes, you and me and everyone alive) every movement and communications!

Seems Julian Assange is now going for the jugular full-throttle, exposing all the dirt collected about this invasion!

And while some on Twitter are taking it in stride, others are appalled by the violation of privacy on law abiding citizens. This is a huge and explosive development but also proves that wiretapping Trump during the election, transition and now as President is not out of the realm of possibilities.

Narrative: On February 26, 2017 at approximately 8:20PM, deputies responded to the area of Parkwood Apartments located at the 1000-Block of Beaglin Park Drive, Salisbury, Maryland, in reference to a shooting. Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division was contacted and initiated an investigation.

During the course of the investigation, detectives learned Alexis Divine, Xavier Townsend, Javon Rouse and De’Mir Smullen had conspired to rob two subjects, (Victim #1 and Victim #2), who had previously agreed to sell Divine marijuana. Divine and Townsend told Victim #1 and Victim #2 to meet at the Parkwood Apartment parking lot. Victim #1 and Victim #2 traveled to the apartment complex to conduct the drug transaction. Upon arrival, Victim #1 met with Alexis Divine. During the meeting, Javon Rouse approached Victim #1 with a firearm demanding the marijuana. During this confrontation, Rouse shot Victim #1 multiple times. Rouse then shot at Victim #2 who was fleeing in a vehicle, striking the vehicle. Victim #1 fled the area and was picked up by Victim #2. Victim #2 drove to Peninsula Regional Medical Center where Victim #1 was treated for gunshot related injuries. Townsend and Smullen acted as lookouts during this robbery. All four suspects fled the area in Townsend’s vehicle.

On March 2, 2017 Detectives located and arrested Xavier Townsend in the area of RT 13 and Naylor Street. Xavier was charged and transferred to the Wicomico County Detention Center.

On March 3, 2017 Alexis Divine was served an arrest warrant in reference to this incident. She was being held at the Wicomico County Detention Center on unrelated robbery charges. At approximately 6:49PM, Detectives located and arrested Javon Rouse and De’Mir Smullen in the 800-Block of Booth Street, Salisbury, Maryland. Both Rouse and Smullen were transferred to the Wicomico County Detention Center.

While the media continues to blast the occasional OPEC production-related headline, the reality is that crude supply is increasingly becoming a shale story, as the US, now tens of billions in debt lighter - has rapidly emerged as the low-cost, marginal oil producer. As such absent a sharp rebound in prices in the coming 3 months, OPEC is almost guaranteed to revert to its prior production regime, as Saudi Arabia is already pained by the loss of market share to increasingly lower cost US producers, who as shown in the charts below, have seen their all-in production costs plunge thanks to rapid technological advancement.

Reports that the Trump administration plans to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget “to the bone” have supporters worried that what needs the most protection right now is the agency’s workforce.

An EPA budget breakdown obtained by Federal News Radio includes a 25 percent cut to EPA’s budget, a 20 percent cut to EPA’s staff, up to a 30 percent reduction in state grants, and flat lining of roughly two dozen programs, including the Global Change Research, environmental justice, environmental education, and the Clean Power Plan implementation.

Clifford Villa, an assistant law professor at the University of New Mexico, and a former legal counsel for the EPA, said there is always an assumption that agencies can do more with less.

A former U.S. Justice Department official says the liberal outrage over Attorney General Jeff Sessions having contact with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 campaign is much ado about nothing and Democrats are doing whatever they can to thwart the Trump agenda.

He also told WND and Radio America reports of a slush fund at the Justice Department created during the Obama years that is funneling money to liberal activist groups are a big deal and further evidence that Democrats turned a blind eye to the Justice Department when far more serious things were happening.

It’s the Sessions story that had the media in a frenzy Thursday after accusations the attorney general misled senators during his confirmation hearings in January.

(WILLARDS, MD) — A Wicomico County man is in State Police custody this morning after he barricaded himself inside a house overnight, following an armed confrontation with his pregnant girlfriend and her 3-year old son.

The man is identified as Alex Bartell, 25, who since yesterday had been staying at a house owned by his girlfriend’s mother in the 36,000-block of Poplar Neck Road in Willards, Md. After consultation with the Wicomico County State’s Attorney, Bartell is charged this morning with three counts of attempted first degree murder, three counts of attempted second degree murder, multiple counts of first and second degree assault, reckless endangerment, and false imprisonment. Bartell his currently being guarded by Maryland State Troopers while receiving medical treatment at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center for an injury sustained in the incident.

Bartell’s girlfriend is being treated at Peninsula Regional Medical Center for injuries reportedly sustained during an altercation prior to the barricade. Her 3 year old son did not sustain any injuries and is at PRMC with his mother.

Shortly after 10:00 p.m. yesterday, Maryland State Police at the Salisbury Barrack were called to assist the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office with a barricade situation at a home in the 36,000-block of Poplar Neck Road in Willards. Troopers were advised Bartell was inside the residence with several shotguns.

Christian bakers who lost their store and were fined $135,000 for declining to make a cake for a same-sex wedding brought their case before the Oregon Court of Appeals Thursday in an attempt to overturn the judgment.

Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Gresham, Oregon, said they simply want the freedom to live by the tenets of their faith.

“We just want the government to tolerate and accept differences of opinion, so we can continue to follow our faith,” Mrs. Klein said at a press conference following hearing. “We hope that, even if people have different beliefs from us, that they will show each other tolerance and that we can peacefully live together and still follow our faith. That’s all we want.”

An administrative judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries found the couple guilty of discrimination for declining to bake a wedding cake for Rachel Cryer-Bowman and Laurel Bowman-Cryer in 2013.

The bakers were ordered to pay $135,000 for the mental and emotional damages they caused the lesbian couple.

Why is his secret meeting not "aiding & abetting terrorists" and "seditious conspiracy"?

It is not simply Democrats who are mounting a coup against Trump. John McCain is essentially the political spokesman for the surveillance state that is leaking and faking information to discredit or entrap Trump — the deep state who have set the world on fire with “regime change.”

It was an open “secret” that our government armed and created ISIS even before the Kerry tapes surfaced. Yet McCain continues to meet with ISIS/Al Qaeda terrorists, sneaking across the border to meet with them at the end of February.

While the Sunday talk shows have been largely focused on debunking Trump's allegations that Obama hacked the Trump Tower, a somewhat different perspective into Trump's current state of mind comes from Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, a close friend of the President, who in an article this morning shares that having spoken to Trump about the wiretapping story, he hasn't "seen Trump so pissed off in a long time." Below are some of the highlights from Ruddy's article posted earlier today:

When I woke up Sunday, I thought the morning news shows would all be talking about the unusual, perhaps dangerous, decision of the Obama administration to wiretap the offices of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. I’ve been watching Chuck Todd’s “Meet the Press” as I write this. There is actually little talk about this unprecedented wire-tapping and even less worry over it. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, usually thoughtful, just told Chuck Todd he found it is “shocking” that Trump disclosed the wiretapping claim on Twitter.

But Friedman offered no shock that such a wiretap might have taken place!

I spoke with the President twice yesterday about the wiretap story. I haven’t seen him this pissed off in a long time.When I mentioned Obama “denials” about the wiretaps, he shot back: “This will be investigated, it will all come out. I will be proven right.”

Ruddy then focuses on the semantic denial by Obama that he had not ordered such a wiretap:

Only 654 miles of the 1,954-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border currently have any type of fencing, according to GAO. The other 1,300 miles of border have no fencing.

Of the 654 miles of fencing, 354 miles consists of what the Department of Homeland Security calls “pedestrian” fencing. The other 300 miles is “vehicle” fencing.

“Border fencing types,” explains GAO, “include pedestrian fencing, which is primarily intended to slow down and deter pedestrians from crossing the border, and vehicle fencing, which is intended to resist vehicles engaged in drug trafficking and alien smuggling operations and is typically used in rural or isolated locations that have a low occurrence of illegal pedestrian traffic.”

As the Trump administration takes shape, it may be helpful to remind ourselves of some of the steps that can be taken in the direction of economic policy that better allows private citizens to be free and flourish. Given his expressed views, there's no reason to believe he plans to radically re-orient the federal government in the direction of freedom and free markets. However, any one of these steps below — even partially implemented — would be a step in the right direction.

One: Eliminate all federal cabinet level agencies related to regulating economic life.Of the current cabinet level bureaus, the following should be eliminated immediately, including all departments within these bureaus, such as OSHA (within the Department of Labor) and the EPA (customarily accorded cabinet rank):AgricultureCommerceLaborEnergyEducationHousing and Urban DevelopmentTransportation

Of course, a free market must include freedom of its participants to use whatever medium of exchange — money — that it chooses. Money is part and parcel of the market economy. It arises naturally to break the limits of a barter economy, also known as direct exchange. Commodity money becomes indirect exchange, whereby market participants trade for the most widely accepted commodity rather than trade directly to satisfy their ultimate goals. There is no need for the state to dictate what may be used for indirect exchange. Market participants themselves are in the best position to determine which commodity makes the best money.

Furthermore, central bank produced and controlled money has allowed government to act like a common counterfeiter, producing money out of thin air to fund its own spending programs and/or reward its supporters, all at the expense of society as a whole. It is much easier to fund wars and welfare out of printed money than taxes, or borrowing from real savings. The steady erosion of money's purchasing power hits retirees the hardest, diminishing their ability to plan for a retirement of comfort and dignity. Furthermore, the Austrian theory of the business cycle places fiat money expansion as the root cause of the boom/bust cycle that misallocates and eventually destroys capital.

Friday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh argued there was a “silent coup” underway against President Donald Trump.

Limbaugh accused former President Barack Obama of putting it in place before leaving office and said that it is currently being executed. He pointed to the ginned-up controversy of Attorney General Jeff Sessions associations with the Russian government and U.S. Senate Democrats slow-walking Trump’s cabinet appointees.

“I’m not taking anything away from what I said yesterday,” he said. “I’m adding to it. We’re watching a silent coup that was put in place by Obama and the Democrats during the transition and before and after the election.”More here

During a question and answer session at her alma mater, Hillary Clinton said the only thing she would change about her unsuccessful 2016 presidential run was that she would win.

In what was intended to be a private Q&A session at Wellesley College, Clinton was asked what aspect of her campaign she would do differently, to which she responded, “I’d win.”

Clinton’s campaign was marred by controversy after private emails released by Wikileaks revealed extensive collusion between her campaign and the media. The FBI also investigated her on charges of mishandling her private email server midway through the campaign.

The former secretary of state also drew criticism for describing half of Donald Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables,” as well as generally failing to provide a convincing message to the American people on issues such as the economy, national security, and immigration.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will allow lead ammunition for hunting again

The Trump administration on Thursday reversed a gun regulation that was implemented on the very last day of the Obama administration.

Newly sworn-in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke withdrew an order banning the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle on certain federal lands issued by the previous head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Jan. 19, 2017.

"It's time to put ammunition back where it belongs; in the hands of hunters," Zinke said in a release.

The order had come under criticism from gun groups for its sweeping impact, speedy implementation, and lack of input from industry groups and hunters.

"This was a reckless, unilateral overreach that would have devastated the sportsmen's community," Chris Cox, head of the National Rifle Association's lobbying arm, said in a statement. "The Obama administration failed to consult with state fish and wildlife agencies or national angling and hunting organizations in issuing this order. This was not a decision based on sound scientific evidence—it was a last second attack on traditional ammunition and our hunting heritage."

Former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director Dan Ashe issued the directive banning lead ammunition because, he maintained, the widely used ammunition is dangerous to animals. "Exposure to lead ammunition and fishing tackle has resulted in harmful effects to fish and wildlife species," he said in the order.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The Maryland Senate has voted to nullify four previous calls to the U.S. Congress to hold a constitutional convention.

The Senate voted 34-13 Monday night for the resolution. One Republican joined 33 Democrats to support the resolution. Thirteen Republicans opposed it.

The Maryland General Assembly has passed four calls for a convention since the 1930s to amend the U.S. Constitution. The last one in the 1970s called for an amendment that requires a balanced federal budget.

Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE), delivered a statement on Saturday concerning the accusations President Trump posted to Twitter that President Barack Obama authorized wiretaps on Trump’s campaign during the recent election.

The Senator also noted that Obama’s spokesman said the accusations are false.

“The President today made some very serious allegations, and the informed citizens that a republic requires deserve more information,” Sasse wrote in his statement.

“If there were wiretaps of then-candidate Trump’s organization or campaign, then it was either with FISA Court authorization or without such authorization,” Sasse continued.

But the Nebraska Senator continued on a grave note, saying, “If without, the President should explain what sort of wiretap it was and how he knows this. It is possible that he was illegally tapped.”

A Nation of Immigrants — Only if They Assimilate Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island.

The Left repeats that ‘we are a nation of immigrants’ without citing the other half of that fact — ‘who assimilate into America.’ I am writing this column in Japan, a country whose crime rate is the lowest among countries with large populations. I asked my Japanese translator, a middle-aged woman, what she thought. “Why is there is so little crime in Japan?” I asked.

Without taking a moment to reflect, she responded, “because we don’t allow immigration.” Anyone who visits Japan is struck by the ethnic homogeneity of the Japanese nation. If you meet a Caucasian, a black, or a Hispanic in Japan, you can be all but certain that the person is visiting or studying here, but is not a citizen.

Likewise in the United States, there is direct correlation between ethnic homogeneity and low levels of violence. According to the most recent data, the four states with the lowest rates of violence are

Just about every month at its board meeting, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission takes up an agenda item labeled simply, “Offenders.”

It typically comes right after lunch, which means board members get to digest not just sandwiches and salads but an extra course of excuses from watermen convicted of breaking commercial fishing laws.

At nearly every meeting, at least one of the offenders argues against a license revocation or probation on the grounds that he was targeted by a marine policeman who was out to get him.

But as Tuesday’s session wrapped up with the cases of Glen S. Moore, Buddy G. Forrest and Clark R. Daniel, something unusual happened: Each of the men took his share of the blame for an October day on the Rappahannock River when they were cited for possessing too many too-small oysters.

Democrats’ efforts to raise suspicions about alleged — and, thus far, imaginary — links between President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government may have backfired spectacularly.

The spotlight is now on President Barack Obama and his administration’s alleged surveillance of the Trump campaign, as well as his aides’ reported efforts to spread damaging information about Trump throughout government agencies to facilitate later investigations and, possibly, leaks to the media.

On Sunday morning, the White House released a statement indicating that the president would ask the congressional committees investigating Russian hacking theories to add the question of “whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016.”

Media outlets continued to repeat that the story was based on “no evidence,” though the evidence was plain.

Some lawmakers reacted to the long-expected resignation announcement from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Thursday by wishing him an eventful retirement, featuring prosecution and possible prison time.

The passage of more than three years hasn’t cooled the insistence in certain quarters that Clapper face charges for an admittedly false statement to Congress in March 2013, when he responded, “No, sir" and "not wittingly” to a question about whether the National Security Agency was collecting “any type of data at all” on millions of Americans.

About three months after making that claim, documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the answer was untruthful and that the NSA was in fact collecting in bulk domestic call records, along with various internet communications.

As President Donald Trump wages war against federal bureaucrats left over from the Obama Administration, lawmakers are taking aim at this practice — instituted by former Attorney General Eric Holder — which effectively funds progressive get-out-the-vote operations by shaking down financial institutions.

A 2015 Wall Street Journal op-ed from Kimberly Strassel called the program “a scheme to undermine Congress’s spending authority by independently transferring dollars to President Obama’s political allies.”

BERLIN — A recent trip to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis exposed me to the exploits of Stephen Decatur. Since he had ties to Worcester County, I decided to find out more about his naval hero and I wasn’t disappointed.

He was born in 1779 at Sinepuxent in Worcester County, the son of a naval officer who served in the Revolutionary War. After a brief stint at college, he joined the United States Navy at 19 years old. In the tumultuous early years of our country, he played a major role in the development of the American Navy.

He served under three presidents and was involved in almost every theater of operation during that era, showing exceptional heroism and leadership. He rose rapidly through the ranks and became the youngest person in the history of the U.S. Navy to achieve the rank of captain.

His initial trial by fire was in the Barbary Wars where he helped defeat the nest of pirates at Tripoli. Then he acted with honor in the quasi war with France and especially in the War of 1812 with Britain.

The popularity of homeschooling is exploding across the United States, far outpacing enrollment growth in public schools and other educational options. The National Home Education Research Institute contends homeschooling is the fastest growing form of education in America, with an estimated 2.3 million students now learning at home, according to the organization’s website.

KTHV recently documented the exponential growth of homeschooling in Arkansas:

According to the State Department of Education, during the 1995-1996 school year, there were 5,755 students enrolled in home schooling. 10 years ago, that number more than doubled, with 13,814 students home-schooled. 20 years later, it has nearly quadrupled, with 19,229 students being home-schooled last school year.

Cindy Hogue, director of the state’s Office of Educational Options, told the news site the growing popularity of homeschooling shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“There is a lot of curriculum out there. There are so many support groups to help parents now. So they feel more secure doing it,” she said. “They aren’t all on their own like they used to be.”

Throngs of people converged in the city of Selma, Alabama, for the annual re-enactment of a key event in the civil rights movement.

Sunday marked the 52nd anniversary of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River in Selma. On March 7, 1965, African-Americans seeking voting rights launched a march across the bridge en route to Montgomery but were attacked by police. That violent episode became known as "Bloody Sunday."

The march is credited with helping build momentum for passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. Attendees included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Congresswoman Terri Sewell, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill and North Carolina NAACP President Dr. William Barber.

Merrill's speech however upset some audience members. He told onlookers that the state has been working to create more opportunities for people to obtain photo identification and get registered to vote by going to various sites throughout the state.

"We want to make sure that every eligible U.S. citizen that is a resident of Alabama is registered to vote and has a photo ID so they can participate in the electoral process at they level that they want to participate," Merrill said.

Multiple spectators called out in opposition several times of having a photo ID including in the voting process. Many walked out of the church service while Merrill was still talking including NAACP president Barber, according to WFSA.

"Standing on this historic ground, where people died for voting rights, we cannot accept this hypocrisy of voter suppression," Barber said.

Russian conspiracy allegations will continue to dog the White House until President Trump gets a handle on the administration’s opponents inside the U.S. intelligence community who are driving the story, warned Republican strategists in Washington.

President Trump has railed against the leaks apparently emanating from the National Security Agency, CIA or FBI. But so far, he has failed to take adequate steps to root out the faction within the intelligence apparatus that is undermining his presidency, whether they are holdovers from the Obama administration or elements intent on thwarting Mr. Trump to preserve their own power.

The targeted leaks to the news media about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials — including information from communications intercepted by intelligence agencies — resulted in the ouster of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as the president’s national security adviser and created a swirl of controversy last week around Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The intelligence leaks have kept the story alive, fueled attacks by Democrats and fractured the Republican majority on Capitol Hill, although no evidence has emerged of actual collusion with Russians to affect the election.

To break the cycle, Mr. Trump must launch an internal investigation to get ahead of the leaks and identify the sources of the leaks, Republican strategist Michael McKenna said.More

Speaking in Virginia this week, FBI Director James B. Comey pointed to a classic anti-drug strategy to fight the current heroin epidemic: “Our job is to try to crack down on the supply, literally, to be very blunt, to drive up the price to make it less and less attractive for people who are addicted to pills to move to heroin,” he said alongside DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg.

This “supply-side” approach has been in place at the federal level since the dawn of the drug war: The federal drug budget has traditionally emphasized approaches like destroying plants,intercepting drug shipments and arresting the people who sell drugs. The logic is straightforward: You reduce the supply of drugs, those drugs become more expensive, and the higher prices drive down demand and use of the drugs. Economics 101, right?

In the real world, it hasn't quite worked out that way. Here, for instance, is data on federal spending on supply-side drug control going back to 1981. The numbers are adjusted for inflation to 2012 dollars.

Radio host Michael Savage said Friday that the news media ignored what he called the "Biden Scandal," referring to the vice president's son's role in a Ukrainian natural gas company several years ago.

Hunter Biden, a former Washington lobbyist, was named to the board of Burisma Holdings, one of Ukraine's largest natural gas companies, in April 2014, while his father Joe Biden was put in charge of sending an anti-corruption message to the Ukrainian government the following year, The New York Times reported.

Officials from Great Britain froze London bank accounts allegedly belonging to Burisma Holdings owner Mykola Zlochevsky, Ukraine's former ecology minister, in 2014, wrote the newspaper. The fund were unfrozen with Ukrainian prosecutors refused to provide documents for the investigation into $23 million of alleged illicit assets, noted the Times.

The American ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey R. Pyatt called for an investigation into Ukrainian prosecutors after the incident, but never mentioned Hunter Biden's connection to Burisma, according to the Times.

Edward C. Chow, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, charged in the newspaper that Hunter Biden's involvement at Burisma undermined the Obama administration's anti-corruption message in Ukraine.

When the owner of a drive-in movie theater located in the 2,300-person town of Henagar, Alabama, took to their business's Facebook page Thursday night, it's doubtful they expected to attract the attention of the national media.

But that is the world in which we live.

Earlier in the week, Beauty & the Beast director Bill Condon revealed that the forthcoming film would feature Disney's first gay character, previewing an "exclusively gay moment" for moviegoers. This drove media outlets to trumpet the decision as "historic" and "truly groundbreaking."

In response, the Henagar Drive-In Theater posted a note on Facebook respectfully informing patrons of its decision not to screen the movie. It was the kind of post that would not have been worthy of so much as a double take just ten years ago. But in 2017, it earned coverage in Entertainment Weekly, Time, Cosmopolitan, Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, Marie Claire and more, all in less than 24 hours.

The GOP website is contrasting House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) flip flop on what she thinks of Americans disrupting town hall events hosted by members of Congress — from “un-American” to honoring “our founders.”

At a press conference on Feb. 27 with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N-N.Y.), Pelosi said that those disrupting town halls to protest President Donald Trump and Trump’s original immigration order putting a temporary halt to immigrants coming to the U.S. from seven terrorism-ridden countries were praiseworthy.

“The women, men, and children who poured into the streets for the Women’s March, those who turned out at airports shortly thereafter, and town halls in the weeks since, they honor the vision of our founders,” Pelosi said.More

"I applaud President Trump for doing everything he can to assure that immigrants from countries which are either state sponsors of terrorism, or where ISIS has significant presence, will be properly vetted before entry. This temporary pause inimmigration from those six countries was long overdue - giving our law enforcement and Homeland Security officials adequate time to work to develop vetting measures that will protect us from terrorist infiltrators."

Hearings to #MakeItHappen

Week eight of the 2017 General Assembly Legislative session saw a very hectic week, where our office worked on multiple legislative priorities including funding for infrastructure improvements and support for nonprofit organizations that improve the lives of veterans.

We were joined by Maryland Municipal League as well as many local officials across the state for our Highway User Revenue bill hearings in both the Senate and House. The Senate versions (SB0564 and SB0563) were heard in the Budget and Taxation Committee on Tuesday, while the House versions (HB0942and HB0946), sponsored by Delegate Gaines and myself, were heard in the Environment and Transportation Committee on Thursday. It is an honor to advocate on behalf of municipalities throughout the state and we are appreciative of the support we have received. Thank you to the many who joined us at the hearing and to those who sent in letters of support! We would not be able to #MakeItHappen without you!

The hearing for HB0922, “Sales and Use Tax – Exemption – Sales by Nonprofit Organizations Raising Funds to Assist Veterans”, was on Friday in the Ways and Means Committee. The cross-file, SB1132 (sponsored by Senators Mathias and Simonaire) will be heard in the Budget and Taxation Committee on March 15 at 1:00PM.

At our weekly Eastern Shore Delegation meeting, we welcomed the Governor’s Office for Children, Eastern Shore Tourism, and Maryland Agricultural Development. Afterward, we celebrated Tourism Day and welcomed numerous organizations to promote tourism to the Shore and throughout Maryland.

Saturday, we attended the ribbon-cutting and first-pitch ceremony at our Sea Gull Softball Stadium. We are looking forward to seeing more Sea Gull victories on the new field! Afterward, we visited Parkside High School and their robotics team, the TEC Tigers, to take in a scrimmage in preparation for their upcoming competitions. Later in the evening, auctioneer Doug Marshall welcomed me on stage at the Salisbury Christian School gala as part of their annual fundraiser and on Sunday we were blessed to welcome participants in the Tim Kennard River Run.

With all of that excitement, I must admit that my favorite part of each weekend is the time that we get to dedicate to knocking on doors and knowing our neighbors. This truly gives us an opportunity to know, first hand, what is important to you and how our work can make a difference in your life. We may be door knocking in your neighborhood soon and I look forward to talking to you!

Our 2017 Scholarship Application is now available! If you live in District 38B and are interested in applying, please send an email to Carl.Anderton@house.state.md.us. Applicants must have plans to attend college in Maryland.

Thank you for your continuous support! If you would like to contact us with an idea, issue, or concern, please either call: 410-841-3431 or emailcarl.anderton@house.state.md.us.